5 New Year Resolutions to Stick To

The transition into the New Year is always one where we place a lot of pressure on ourselves. It's as though we need to remake ourselves simply because the year has changed over. This simply isn't true. You can make a life change any day of the week, if you really want to.

So we put all of this pressure on ourselves, every New Year, to be better, do better, and feel better. We want to make the next year better than the one before. We want to dust off those life goals and try to bring them to fruition again.

It's a lot of pressure to place on yourself. And whether your goals are to save money, eat healthy, be a better family member, or lose weight, it can be hard to reach them. And when you come out of the holidays hoping to change your entire life in the blink of an eye, you realize that it's not going to last.

Most people abandon their New Year's resolutions by the end of January. It takes less than a month for the stress of real life to come back and throw you into old habits.

So be easy on yourself and make your New Year's resolutions a little less specific. Maybe you will lose those last 15 pounds in 2018. Maybe you will eat better. Maybe you will see your family more.

And maybe you won't.

Try some more holistic New Year's resolutions and you may find that they are easier to stick to as you make your way through the next twelve months.

1. Practice Mindfulness

Although the concept of mindfulness is a relatively new one in our Western culture, it is very beneficial to your overall health and stress reduction. Take some time in this new year to focus your thoughts and take deep breaths. When you feel stressed or overwhelmed remember to stop and breathe.

Life is meant to be challenging. Life is meant to be stressful at times. But there is no mountain that you can't climb if you just remember to put one foot in front of the other.

2. Take Your Time

One of the things we do around the New Year is bog ourselves down with time-sensitive resolutions. Although some of these are achievable, if you load up too many you will simply find yourself spiraling out of control.

So take your time. Set goals if you want to, but allow yourself an adequate window of time to achieve them. Don't stress if you haven't accomplished everything you want to in that first month or those first six months, for that matter. You will either reach your resolution or you won't. There is always the next year to try again.

3. Be Charitable

Now when we talk about being charitable, many people assume you can only do this by donating money. That's not the case. There are many ways that you can be charitable in life and they will all improve your quality of life.

Perhaps you volunteer at a church or library or soup kitchen. Being charitable with your time can be very rewarding and it allows you to give back to your community. Perhaps you donate your used clothes this year or give blood at a blood drive. Both are great means of being charitable. Perhaps you simply sit and talk to someone who is lonely. The gift of conversation is a great thing.

You don't need to be rich in order to be charitable. You can do so many things in order to give back. And selfless acts do wonderful things for your overall mental health and physical health. So think about practising that this New Year.

4. Be Ambitious

It is easy to fall into old routines, no matter how determined you are to make changes in the New Year. So remember to be ambitious. Remember to push yourself in areas of life that you may have ignored this previous year.

Perhaps you really want that promotion at work. Go for it. Perhaps you are looking to find love in your life. Put yourself out there. Perhaps you want to start a new career path. Take that leap of faith.

Life is chaos. There will never be a perfect time to do anything. So remember to put yourself out there and challenge yourself. It is only by facing the things we fear and being uncomfortable that we grow as people.

5. Love Yourself

If you accomplish nothing else this New Year, remember to love yourself. It is only through truly loving ourselves that we are able to open our hearts to other people.

Whether you are self-conscious, facing crisis, or just going through changes in your life, it is important to remember to love who you are. Even if you are falling apart, there is always something worth loving in yourself. You are worth something. You are important. So remember that this year.

Give yourself a break. Take time to grow as a person. Address your demons and accept them. Love your flaws. Love your achievements.

Getting to a point of personal happiness cannot happen if you do not reflect on who you are as a person. So take some time to self-reflect this New Year and make 2018 about you.